Day 2,546: Atlanta Christmas 5K

 Members of Delta's #cheercart gave out hats, scarves, luggage tags and bottled water after the race.

This race has been on our radar for a while -- only we've been out of town most times that it has run. This year though, the timing was perfect for it. Even still, I think it took a $5 active.com coupon to get us to register.

Unlike last week's rainfest 5K, this morning had nearly perfect racing conditions -- 57 degrees, kind of cool, not hot at all.

We walked down to the starting area. There were a lot of people with Santa hats (you get them with the $35 race registration), so I was already thinking that this would not be a race that would give a fast time. Add to that the course has a HUGE hill in the middle of it -- I have had the pleasure of having to run up it in October 2008 when I was just treading water as a runner.

Anyway, the race started, and it felt pretty congested. Getting down to Ponce de Leon Place was a blur and then as soon as we crossed over Virginia Avenue, I felt that home court vibe kick in, since it pretty much was in my neighborhood.

I ran up the Courtenay incline and when the main hill came, I felt like I brought a rocket engine compared to the rest of the field making their way up the hill. On the downhill on the next street over, I recall some teenage girl was actually sprinting down it to create separation but I was pretty emboldened and caught up to her at the bottom of the hill (my stats show I went sub 6:30 to do this).

Back on Courtenay with barely a half mile left in the race, there's another hill leading up to North Highland Avenue. I gave another push past the runners here, including a pair of guys who I felt could outkick me at the end. But I did it anyway and then made my way to Morningside.

I held up until the turn and then tried to just kick it in. There's a downhill here and it was a fast finish. No one outkicked me here and I felt extremely good at the end.

With slow starts in congested races, it's hard to say if I have enough in me to put together a complete race to qualify for Group A of the Peachtree. I think the odds right now are that I won't be able to run a sub 48:00 10K in February but races like these provide a focus of what kind of running I need to do to get there -- and confidence that I still have some legs left when I need them.

Time: 8 a.m.

Temp: 57 degrees

Gear: Technical T-shirt, short (Braves Father's Day 4-Miler), shorts, Nike Air Pegasus+ 30.